Bengals Draft Depot

The debate should the Bengals go offense in the 1st or defense in the first? Cases can be made for both sides and for the first time in a long time the team isn't facing a situation where there's a gaping hole and an absolute must has to be picked to fill a starting role. The Bengals could go a number of different ways and this hopefully deter teams from trading directly in front of them like New Orleans in 2008. If it happens this year there's almost certainly gonna be another player the Bengals like and is good value still on the board.

Lets start on the offensive side of the ball. Obviously Tight End is a need, I don't wanna sit through another year of Daniel Coats dropping and fumbling footballs. Gresham could be an elite player and could be the 1st round pick. Some say the Bengals don't use a TE enough to warrant a 1st round pick, but that's factually incorrect. The Bengals over the last 2 years have targeted the TE almost 5 times a game, and that's with some pretty bad players. I think if a good Tight End is brought in that number would certainly go up. As of now Bobbie Williams isn't resigned so Guard could be a pressing need and even if/when he resigns he is 34 and on the last leg of his career. Another possibility is Dez Bryant, a top 5 talent, could be sitting there at number 21. If that's the case you almost think that'd have to be the pick, a top 5 player picked 21st in the draft. The offense was inconsistent to say the least of last year. With how good the defense is you'd think an offense that scores 24 a game would win us 12 games this year, even with the tough schedule.

On Defense Safety is a position that could be adressed in the first. Both current starters have failed to play an entire season in a few years. Also they are both known for stopping the run and being mediocre against the pass. Another possibility is a pass rusher, after Odom went down last season the pass rush disappeared. He's yet to play a full season in the 2 years he's been here. Plus another pass rusher could take some double teams away from Odom or allow him to move inside and Micheal Johnson to play on the edge. At defensive Tackle the Bengals are pretty good, but in the AFC North you can never have enough depth on either line and using a 1st round pick on the D line is always a good thing. By the way this years DT class is loaded and probably the best DT class in the history of the draft.

I would argue for defense over offense and here's why. The coaches, on the defensive side of the ball the coaches are developing players way better than the offensive coaches are. Look at the last few years, Peko, Joseph, Hall, Ndukwe, and Sims. On offense the results aren't nearly as good. The 2 young WR's haven't developed like they should have for 2nd and 3rd round picks. Coffman couldn't get active last year. Really an argument could be made that Whitworth and Kyle Cook are the only 2 players they've done a good job developing and that's probably due to Paul Alexander. So why hand Bratkowski a shiny new player that he'll do nothing with. To add to the non-development is the most unimaginitive offensive coordinator in the NFL. Until he's shown the door I wouldn't feel good about using a 1st round pick on offense anywhere except the O line. The Bengals are set up to contend this year and a defensive player would make a more immediate impact.